L7 - Biography
Taking their name from a 50's term used to describe someone who is “square,” L7 were, other than Hole, the only prominent girl-driven band to be given the grunge tag. As time passes, however, their affiliation with grunge has become a lot less emphasized, and they're rarely mentioned in relation to the riot grrrl movement. Although not as important to that movement as Bikini Kill or Bratmobile, the riot grrrl mentality was something they practically epitomized before it even had a name. By never trying to sell records with sex appeal, and more importantly, by co-founding the non-profit Rock For Choice organization, L7 were truly seminal for bands like Sleater-Kinney, and arguably, even the Donnas. Also of note is all the controversy stirred up by the band, like when singer/guitarist Donita Sparks threw her used tampon into a crowd of mud-slinging Reading Festival attendees. Or, how about the time that drummer Dee Plakas was raffled away for a one night stand with a fan during a 2000 London gig and supposedly went through with it on the tour bus? Yes, it was a varied career, highlighted by healthy activism as well as pretty disgusting public displays. Along the way, L7 rocked as hard as any band to come out of Seattle, even though they actually came from Los Angeles.
It was 1985 when friends Suzi Gardner and Donita Sparks, both guitar players, started their own group in LA. Additional members were not settled on right away, and it took a few years for the official lineup to solidify. Eventually, drummer Dee Plakas and bassist Jennifer Finch became full-time members. Gardner and Sparks decided that both of them would sing on top of their guitar-playing duties. In 1988, L7 were signed to Epitaph Records, a new label that was started in Hollywood by Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz. When L7 were signed, the label had not yet released an album by a band that wasn't Bad Religion.
That same year saw the release of L7 (1988, Epitaph), a first-time release for both artist and label. By their next album, the band would be closer to perfecting their metal/punk hybrid. At this point, though, they could not choose between the two, resulting in an album split in half by pure punk songs and fun-loving heavy metal tracks. The girls toured well into the next decade before signing a deal with Sub Pop and settling back into the recording studio.
Released in 1991, Smell the Magic (Sub Pop) sounded as much like the soundtrack to a monster truck rally as anything Alice in Chains ever put out. The guitars are deep and trashy, while the tracks are often up-tempo, highlighting the band's love for punk. Nirvana would release Nevermind that September and go to number 1, but there was little chart success to be found for alternative bands prior to that. L7 was no exception, and Smell the Magic garnered no hits.
Later in 1991, the band co-founded the non-profit organization Rock For Choice with LA Weekly music editor Sue Cummings. The organization was intended to give artists a chance to show their support for the pro-choice movement. They held the first Rock For Choice concert on October 25th, 1991, playing alongside Hole and Nirvana, among others. Rock For Choice would continue to put on annual concerts for the next ten years.
L7 were one band on a long list of them that benefited from the sudden success of Nirvana. They were signed to Slash, an LA punk label that had been absorbed by Warner Bros in an attempt to capitalize on the alternative uprising. And so, it's fitting that the L7 album that came out as grunge was peaking would become their best-known LP. Bricks are Heavy (Slash/Reprise) was released on April 14th, 1992. Not just another trashy punk album, Bricks are Heavy finds the band buckling down and improving their songwriting, making all the attention they received that year seem completely earned. Working with Nevermind producer Butch Vig certainly didn't hurt their chances of being played on the radio. Although stalling out at number 160 on the Billboard 200, the LP became a number 1 heatseekers album, and “Pretend We're Dead,” L7's best stab at a pop song, reached number 8 on the modern rock charts.
Bricks put a female face on the grunge movement, which was strange given that L7 had nothing do with grunge in a geographical sense, and the entire scene boiled down to geography. Either way, the image only helped their career. Two years later, though, the popularity of grunge was fading fast, and L7, meanwhile, had to follow up on their first taste of success. Hungry For Stink (Slash/Reprise), released July 12th, 1994, was what they came up with. Although it was not a complete commercial drop-off, it didn't take them into the top 100 or gain any new fans. “Andres” was a minor hit, peaking at number 20, but it was nothing close to the effortless, almost throw-away catchiness of “Pretend We're Dead.”
L7 spent the rest of that summer on the road as part of the Lollapalooza tour, which didn't seem to help the sales of their new album. The band lay dormant for the next couple of years before getting back into the studio for the recording of their fifth full-length, The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum (Slash/Reprise) which hit stores on February 25th, 1997. Before the sessions had begun, Finch exited the group, leading L7 to hire temporary bassist Greta Brinkman. It was clear that the group had lost a lot of their punk-rock inclinations, as the LP was comprised mostly of heavy metal rockers. It appeared that L7 had no chance now of capturing the chart success they seemed so close to achieving just years before. The Beauty Process stalled out at 172, without any charting singles to help it along. Once recording was completed for The Beauty Process, new bassist Gail Greenwood, formerly of Belly, was brought in as a full-time member.
A proper L7 live album was finally released, putting an end to the days when bootlegs were the only way to hear the band's recorded live material. Live: Omaha to Osaka (Man's Ruin) came out on December 15th, 1998. It opens with a local high school marching band running through a fun live medley of L7 songs before the girls tear into “Bad Things.” Less than a year later, L7 was back with their final studio album, Slap-Happy (1998, Bong Load), another set of samey metal tunes. The retrospective The Best of L7: The Slash Years (Slash) arrived in 2000. One year later, after a stretch of inactivity, the band announced that they were on an indefinite hiatus- however, in 2015 the band announced a reuniting of the original, classic grunge era line up, and have begun playing shows in Los Angeles and other cities, not to mention a European Tour planned. It looks like L7 have returned to rock us all in the way only they know how.
